"We would very much like for any discussion of the mistakes of the Stalin epoch to be silenced today, so that people can reflect on Stalin's personality as a creator, a thinker and a patriot."
-- Ivan Melnikov, of Russia's Communist Party, and the deputy parliament speaker; image from; see also -- scroll down for item on Rockwell/Socialist realism
-- Ivan Melnikov, of Russia's Communist Party, and the deputy parliament speaker; image from; see also -- scroll down for item on Rockwell/Socialist realism
“We have reached the point where air strikes are the only plausible option with any prospect of preventing Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons.”
-- Alan J. Kuperman, the director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas at Austin, in a piece published by The New York Times one day before Christmas
REPORT
U.S. Public Diplomacy: Background and Current Issues - Kennon H. Nakamura, Matthew C. Weed, Congressional Research Service. [A note from your PDPBR compiler: In an effort to maintain "objectivity," whatever that may be (I much prefer humor), I have refrained from making editorial judgments on items cited in the PDPBR. However, in the case of this superlative
report, I can only say that it's a must-read for anyone interested in PD -- especially young people wishing to know more about this form of diplomacy, and how they can contribute to it in the service of their country. Many thanks to Bill Kiehl for making it available online.] Image from
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS
Bolton: Strike On Iran Is No Problem As Long As It's Accompanied By A ‘Campaign Of Public Diplomacy’ - Ben Armbruster, Think Progress: "On Fox News today, John Bolton — who has wanted nothing short of a military strike on Iran for years — dismissed any talk of sanctions and lamented that if Israel 'take[s] a pass' on attacking Iran, then 'Iran gets nuclear weapons.' When host Trace Gallagher wondered if attacking Iran might cause the opposition there to coalesce around the regime, Bolton said that wouldn’t be a problem because all that would be needed is an accompanying public diplomacy campaign: BOLTON: I don’t agree with that, if handled properly. … I think a careful campaign of public diplomacy in the wake of a military strike could explain to the people of Iran who are knowledgeable and sophisticated, that the attack is not aimed against them, it’s aimed against this regime that they dislike so much."
Alhurra presenter's polyandry suggestion brings blasphemy complaint - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
Ukrainian politician wants to "privatize" Radio Liberty, whatever that means - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: "RFE/RL did try to privatize -- by making them self-funding -- its Polish and Czech services back in the 1990s. These efforts did not succeed. It's not easy to make money from serious, news-oriented, spoken-word radio. It was worth a try."
Exchange Visitor Program-Secondary School Students - govpulse.us:
"The Department of State is proposing to amend and improve the Exchange Visitor Program regulations by providing greater specificity and clarity to sponsors of the Secondary School Student category with respect to the execution of sponsor oversight responsibilities under the exchange visitor programs. ... Specifically, the Department is proposing to amend existing regulations regarding the screening, selection, school enrollment, orientation, and monitoring of overall quality assurance on behalf of student participants; and the screening, selection, orientation, and quality assurance monitoring of host families." Image from
General McCaffrey's Change of Heart – Capitol Hill Cubans: "Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey (Ret), former White House Drug Czar and SouthCom (Latin America) Commander, is canceling a scheduled January 3-6 trip to Cuba to discuss U.S.-Cuban future cooperation because of recent 'shallow, vitriolic' comments and actions by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. ... [McCaffrey:] Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced President Obama at the Copenhagen Conference as an 'imperial and arrogant liar' in the most vile and personal terms imaginable. The Foreign Minister could not have borrowed talking points from Cuba's worst enemies to more effectively harm the country's future economic and political interests. This type of shallow and vitriolic 1960's public diplomacy also makes Cuban leadership appear to be non-serious, polemical amateurs."
E$LN, Subcommandante Pablo – Paul Rockower, Levantine: "A little about the Zapatista rebellion.
It was really the first post-modern rebellion to spring up. I wrote a little on the post-modern side of the Zapatistas a while back during Starr´s class (I kinda feel like I am on a PubD Lat Am field trip). On January 1, 1994, the Zapatistas issued their declaration of war against the Mexican government and against NAFTA, which they believed would further the neo-liberal economic model. The rebellion didn´t spark a revolution like [sic] they hoped, but their public diplomacy efforts (tactical media, as they call it) spread far and wide and captured global attention." Image from
Eye 2 Israel – Ort, Israel - Mofet Jtec. "The Eye 2 Israel project has been operational since 2003 as part of the Student Community Program at the ORT Israel Network and is managed by its center for research and development. An exclusive course of 'Young Diplomats' for project participants is held under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which supports the project, regarding it to be of utmost importance. The participating students undergo in-depth training on issues concerning Israel, the policies of public diplomacy and tools for advocacy and public debate."
Romania - Tel Aviv – Symposium “RO20: ROMANIA 1989-2009” 20 Years since the Fall of Communism - ISRIA:
"The main components of the RO 20 program are the following: filmed interviews with and lectures delivered by personalities from various domains about developments in Romania over these past years; photo exhibitions capturing in snapshots the way Romania has evolved from the period before 1989 until 2009, the photos being offered by photographer Florin Andreescu and by Agerpres; a uniform graphic identity; various cultural or public diplomacy events organized by Romania’s diplomatic missions according to the local specific; a new media component to be launched in the course of December, at the Foreign Ministry headquarters; distribution of promotional materials. The events marking the changes which have occurred in Romania in the 20 years since the fall of communism will continue at Romania’s diplomatic missions throughout the month of December, being actively supported by the online component." Image from
Another XMAS in Benin....*sigh* Satin - Life In Benin...What A Ride!!! - "Enough with the guilt trip and sob stories. Things are going awesome nonetheless for me.
I have started studying for the Graduate Record Exam and for the Foreign Service Exam that I will be taking in March. I have decided that I want to get into the Foreign Service as an actual career doing public diplomacy, be a consular at an embassy, or do international public health. Right now I am thinking about schools to apply to when I get back." Image from blog
the February 27- March 6, 2010 FSOT - Evolving Eldon: "The window of opportunity....has knocked? This year I decided to change my life. I have applied to take the US Department of State's Foreign Service Office Test. If I pass the test and am eventually selected for the position, I would be a Management Officer serving my country overseas by running embassies. Since my track is Management I have a good opportunity to be seated for the exam, according to the pasted information from DOS. My wife and I call it DOS, like uno, dos... it is a catchy phrase. The DOS opportunity allows me to serve my country again (dos) and start my second career (dos). Seat scheduling for the February test begins for candidates who have completed their Registration. Invitations to schedule seats are issued by career track, and then on a first-come, first-served basis until capacity is reached. Career tracksmanagement and economic will be invited first, followed by consular, andthen political and public diplomacy."
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Obama, Pakistan and Mullah Omar: Why Islamabad resists going after the Quetta shura - Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: The reality is that the gravest threat to Pakistan comes from Islamic radicals, especially if they are able to survive the U.S. and NATO surge. Their next targets will be Islamabad and Rawalpindi as much as Kabul, London or New York. The U.S. and Pakistan share a common enemy, and Mr. Obama will have to assure the Pakistanis that the American commitment won't end with some arbitrary withdrawal deadline made to appease the U.S. antiwar left.
Friend or foe today? The answer may be different tomorrow - Arnaud de Borchgrave, Washington Times:
The U.S. is stuck attempting to prop up both Pakistan and Afghanistan, both governed by unpopular presidents of dubious probity. Image from
AMERICANA
Seattle tops list of literate cities – Mary Beth Marklein, USA Today
-- Alan J. Kuperman, the director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas at Austin, in a piece published by The New York Times one day before Christmas
REPORT
U.S. Public Diplomacy: Background and Current Issues - Kennon H. Nakamura, Matthew C. Weed, Congressional Research Service. [A note from your PDPBR compiler: In an effort to maintain "objectivity," whatever that may be (I much prefer humor), I have refrained from making editorial judgments on items cited in the PDPBR. However, in the case of this superlative
report, I can only say that it's a must-read for anyone interested in PD -- especially young people wishing to know more about this form of diplomacy, and how they can contribute to it in the service of their country. Many thanks to Bill Kiehl for making it available online.] Image fromPUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS
Bolton: Strike On Iran Is No Problem As Long As It's Accompanied By A ‘Campaign Of Public Diplomacy’ - Ben Armbruster, Think Progress: "On Fox News today, John Bolton — who has wanted nothing short of a military strike on Iran for years — dismissed any talk of sanctions and lamented that if Israel 'take[s] a pass' on attacking Iran, then 'Iran gets nuclear weapons.' When host Trace Gallagher wondered if attacking Iran might cause the opposition there to coalesce around the regime, Bolton said that wouldn’t be a problem because all that would be needed is an accompanying public diplomacy campaign: BOLTON: I don’t agree with that, if handled properly. … I think a careful campaign of public diplomacy in the wake of a military strike could explain to the people of Iran who are knowledgeable and sophisticated, that the attack is not aimed against them, it’s aimed against this regime that they dislike so much."
Alhurra presenter's polyandry suggestion brings blasphemy complaint - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
Ukrainian politician wants to "privatize" Radio Liberty, whatever that means - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: "RFE/RL did try to privatize -- by making them self-funding -- its Polish and Czech services back in the 1990s. These efforts did not succeed. It's not easy to make money from serious, news-oriented, spoken-word radio. It was worth a try."
Exchange Visitor Program-Secondary School Students - govpulse.us:
"The Department of State is proposing to amend and improve the Exchange Visitor Program regulations by providing greater specificity and clarity to sponsors of the Secondary School Student category with respect to the execution of sponsor oversight responsibilities under the exchange visitor programs. ... Specifically, the Department is proposing to amend existing regulations regarding the screening, selection, school enrollment, orientation, and monitoring of overall quality assurance on behalf of student participants; and the screening, selection, orientation, and quality assurance monitoring of host families." Image fromGeneral McCaffrey's Change of Heart – Capitol Hill Cubans: "Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey (Ret), former White House Drug Czar and SouthCom (Latin America) Commander, is canceling a scheduled January 3-6 trip to Cuba to discuss U.S.-Cuban future cooperation because of recent 'shallow, vitriolic' comments and actions by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. ... [McCaffrey:] Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced President Obama at the Copenhagen Conference as an 'imperial and arrogant liar' in the most vile and personal terms imaginable. The Foreign Minister could not have borrowed talking points from Cuba's worst enemies to more effectively harm the country's future economic and political interests. This type of shallow and vitriolic 1960's public diplomacy also makes Cuban leadership appear to be non-serious, polemical amateurs."
E$LN, Subcommandante Pablo – Paul Rockower, Levantine: "A little about the Zapatista rebellion.
It was really the first post-modern rebellion to spring up. I wrote a little on the post-modern side of the Zapatistas a while back during Starr´s class (I kinda feel like I am on a PubD Lat Am field trip). On January 1, 1994, the Zapatistas issued their declaration of war against the Mexican government and against NAFTA, which they believed would further the neo-liberal economic model. The rebellion didn´t spark a revolution like [sic] they hoped, but their public diplomacy efforts (tactical media, as they call it) spread far and wide and captured global attention." Image fromEye 2 Israel – Ort, Israel - Mofet Jtec. "The Eye 2 Israel project has been operational since 2003 as part of the Student Community Program at the ORT Israel Network and is managed by its center for research and development. An exclusive course of 'Young Diplomats' for project participants is held under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which supports the project, regarding it to be of utmost importance. The participating students undergo in-depth training on issues concerning Israel, the policies of public diplomacy and tools for advocacy and public debate."
Romania - Tel Aviv – Symposium “RO20: ROMANIA 1989-2009” 20 Years since the Fall of Communism - ISRIA:
"The main components of the RO 20 program are the following: filmed interviews with and lectures delivered by personalities from various domains about developments in Romania over these past years; photo exhibitions capturing in snapshots the way Romania has evolved from the period before 1989 until 2009, the photos being offered by photographer Florin Andreescu and by Agerpres; a uniform graphic identity; various cultural or public diplomacy events organized by Romania’s diplomatic missions according to the local specific; a new media component to be launched in the course of December, at the Foreign Ministry headquarters; distribution of promotional materials. The events marking the changes which have occurred in Romania in the 20 years since the fall of communism will continue at Romania’s diplomatic missions throughout the month of December, being actively supported by the online component." Image fromAnother XMAS in Benin....*sigh* Satin - Life In Benin...What A Ride!!! - "Enough with the guilt trip and sob stories. Things are going awesome nonetheless for me.
I have started studying for the Graduate Record Exam and for the Foreign Service Exam that I will be taking in March. I have decided that I want to get into the Foreign Service as an actual career doing public diplomacy, be a consular at an embassy, or do international public health. Right now I am thinking about schools to apply to when I get back." Image from blogthe February 27- March 6, 2010 FSOT - Evolving Eldon: "The window of opportunity....has knocked? This year I decided to change my life. I have applied to take the US Department of State's Foreign Service Office Test. If I pass the test and am eventually selected for the position, I would be a Management Officer serving my country overseas by running embassies. Since my track is Management I have a good opportunity to be seated for the exam, according to the pasted information from DOS. My wife and I call it DOS, like uno, dos... it is a catchy phrase. The DOS opportunity allows me to serve my country again (dos) and start my second career (dos). Seat scheduling for the February test begins for candidates who have completed their Registration. Invitations to schedule seats are issued by career track, and then on a first-come, first-served basis until capacity is reached. Career tracksmanagement and economic will be invited first, followed by consular, andthen political and public diplomacy."
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Obama, Pakistan and Mullah Omar: Why Islamabad resists going after the Quetta shura - Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: The reality is that the gravest threat to Pakistan comes from Islamic radicals, especially if they are able to survive the U.S. and NATO surge. Their next targets will be Islamabad and Rawalpindi as much as Kabul, London or New York. The U.S. and Pakistan share a common enemy, and Mr. Obama will have to assure the Pakistanis that the American commitment won't end with some arbitrary withdrawal deadline made to appease the U.S. antiwar left.
Friend or foe today? The answer may be different tomorrow - Arnaud de Borchgrave, Washington Times:
The U.S. is stuck attempting to prop up both Pakistan and Afghanistan, both governed by unpopular presidents of dubious probity. Image fromAMERICANA
Seattle tops list of literate cities – Mary Beth Marklein, USA Today
ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
"When we consider Plato himself, the most brilliant practitioner of the dialogue genre, the tensions and ironies multiply. Quite apart from the general irony that all dialogues written by a single author are in a sense monologues, Plato was one of democracy's most implacable critics, and one of the central reasons for his hostility was that the the Athenian democracy had put Socrates to death -- at least partly, it could be claimed, because of the way he did dialogue, interrogating self-appointed experts and deflating their pretentions to knowledge. ...
Plato's dialogues, in other words, simultaneously arise from the culture of democratic Athens and offer a robust critique of that that culture, and would be banned by the philosophers-rulers whom Plato (apparently) advocates instead."--Angela Hobbs, "Too much talking in class," Times Literary Supplement (December 18 & 25, 2009), p. 17, no link; image from
